Because We're Family
by Bonebreakjack
Summary: Part of a new series: Yusaku is reverted back to that right after he was saved from the Lost incident, his current well fair resting in his friends and families hands as they try to figure out how to revert him back to normal.


I dont own anything!

Age Regression/De-Aging, mentiones of torture and starvation, Ai panicking

* * *

It took every piece of himself not coo over the little face staring back at him especially since, well, this wasn't exactly a cooing moment.

The pudgy child like face of the now former teenager stared at him with haunted eyes, curled up in bed with the blanket over their head as they wept but refused to look away.

It hurt to be reminded of what cost to bring the Ignis into the world. To know that the way your were brought in was because someone decided to hurt someone else. That you were the product of pain and torture.

Ai would wake up to Yusaku screaming or sobbing in the night, and he would have to pretend he heard no one of it. He tried to comfort the teenager before but all it did was cause him to lash out in fear.

Biting the lip of his latex covered SOLtiS body Ai sat on the ground and waited for Roboppy. Yusaku in his childlike form seemed to tolerated the smaller AI's form much more than Ai. Roboppy pointed out it was cause they themselves looked more like a fellow child, while Ai himself look like an adult.

Ai isn't surprised the incident made Yusaku distrust adults in general.

So he sat and waited patiently while Roboppy came back with help, any kind. They were on the desperate scales of things. So Ai couldn't be picky about who could see Yusaku like this.

He felt bad about it, but was getting bored. He couldn't even touch his deck cause Yusaku would start wailing. And no amount of self amusement was worth hearing those heartbreaking sobs of fear.

Ai felt his ears ring causing to slowly stop crying from confusion as to where the sound was coming from. It might be different from the sounds he was used to for the six months in captivity so his body tensed in fear.

_"Hiya, big bro! I got help!" _Roboppy cheerfully informed through his head. Bless his little minion for working fast!

"That's great! Who did you get?" Ai needed to get out like ages ago, it's not that he didn't want to help. He just didn't know how to handle anything like this delicately, to put it mildly Ai was way over his head right now.

Plus he thinks he might start crying too if Yusaku starts wailing again.

"Okay, so, like Don't get mad but-"

Oh.

_Oh that is never good._

_"-Kusanagi is an adult, Miyu and Aoi are out of town, no way in hell I'm asking him no matter how good he is with kids, Takeru is back home with the family, Jin can't even remember, that means all we had left who knows about this-"_

No. No Roboppy did fucking not-!

It was too late though, the sound of a door opening prompted Ai and Yusaku to look at the stairs. Roboppy awkwardly shuffled forward their shoulders hunched and head bowed embarrassed.

Behind them Ryoken who looked at Yusaku with horror and slight awe. He quickly walked down the stairs over to Ai and squatted next to him. Apprehension seemed to cover his face and body with a slight fear.

Ai could relate.

Roboppy decided to scoot themselves a certain distance to Yusaku to get him used to them being proximity again and probably to distract him while Ai and Ryoken talked.

"HOW?" The man hissed, eyes the boy who went under the covers with their arrival. Nostalgia tinged his face making it softer and sweeter, before hardening again with askance.

"I honestly have no idea. All I do know is that Yusaku got a strange message last night. When he scanned it was fine, though there was this strange Eye symbol on it, it electrocuted him when he opened the thing but nothing else. I scanned him multiple times I have no idea," Ai pleaded in desperation for Ryoken to help, he scanned millions of sights on how to take care of traumatized children only to get a bunch of confusing and contradicting advice.

Okay, so maybe having Ryoken here isn't as bad as he thought.

"I have no idea how to help, actually let me see the du-" Ai quickly covered his mouth with a slight amount of terror as he looked back at the bed. Seeing Yusaku still distracted he pulled Ryoken closer so they could whisper better.

"Whatever, you do not mention duel monsters, duel disks, or really anything relating to the incident. Yusaku has been regressed to have just been saved from there, he traumatized to all hell and damn near everything makes him starts wailing with fear or shut down okay? I do not want. To. hear. Him. CRY," Ai hissed into the man's ears showing just how bad this situation is.

"We need him to go to sleep so we can check it over-"

"Tried that, if he sleeps, he just wakes up from a nightmare. He won't leave the bed for anything, and refuses to let me or Roboppy touch him for too long," Ai winced as he listed it off. "It took half an hour before he let Roboppy leave-"

"Oh, wait I forgot did you two bring food? We promised him that so he could let Roboppy go," Ryoken nodded and pointed to the kitchen up the stairs. Nodding they both inched towards the stairs only to be stopped by a shaking voice.

"W-where are you two going?" The little boy stuttered out tears in his eyes while ignoring Roboppy tried to cheer him up with some toys they got for him (man he hopes Yusaku's bank account still has money in it, or better yet Ryoken paid for it.)

"We are going to make you something to eat, I know you must be feeling a little sick not but about about some Okayu with Sweet potato?" Ryoken offered gently the young boy looked down nervously before nodding slightly. Yusaku taking sneaks peeks at the man looking like he was thinking hard.

* * *

Ai watched Ryoken stir the pot the man lost in his thoughts as they tried to figure out their strange situation.

"You look like mom"Ai piped up, wanting to fill the dull silence, Ryoken gave him a look that clearly told him to shut the hell up.

"...I think remembers you a little,"The comment made Ryoken tense not liking the idea, he thinned his lips looking distressed.

"I was hoping he wouldn't to be honest-"

"Well we can't all get what we want~"

The man glared as labeled the starchy mixture into a bowl before he finally spoke.

"We need to get him to sleep somehow so we can scan him and the duel disk. If what you say is true he must be exhausted right now. The food will help him sleep while we work, we can leave Yusaku with Roboppy until we're finished" Ryoken laid out the game plan but Ai was skeptical.

After all when has anything they done ever gone to plan?

* * *

Yusaku was hesitant to eat the food despite Ai clearly hearing his stomach growl. He and Roboppy got light taps to their heads and saw that Ryoken had turned around. "Considering your AIs i'm sure you don't know this but people typically do not like to be stared at when they eat."

Sheepish the duo turned around too and after a few minutes the blessed sounds of a child scarfing down food.

If he was weeping while he did so, they thought it would be better they ignored it while he did.

* * *

Roboppy was curled protectively Yusaku the two having fallen asleep while the former maid bot entertained him. The boy wouldn't watch TV, or even things on a laptop. In fact, he tried to avoid technology altogether it seemed.

He hopes he doesn't discover that he and Roboppy are androids. That would be awkward.

Right now Ai and Ryoken were removing the duel disk as gently as possible off of Yusaku's arm needing to examine it to figure out how this happened.

The two kept freezing comically every time he so much as hitched his breath.

Ai decided it was better if he reopened the message not wanting Ryoken to be turned into a child too. Ai didn't think he could handle two emotional children after today.

"Okay, I sent this to Specter, there's actually a strange line of code, I think they look like hieroglyphics. If we can figure out what they mean we can find out how to reverse this"they both slumped because it wasn't the best option.

"What do we do if we can't fix this?" Ai finally voiced his fears. That Yusaku may be stuck like this.

"Then we either hope this wears off… or You might have to end up raising him," He must be making some kind of face because Ryoken winced as he turned to him.

"I can't raise a kid! I can barely take care of him when he was a teenager," Ai hissed with fear and desperation, panic clawing up his throat. He was an AI! And using a stolen SOLtiS body for crying out loud! He can't get a paid job to support him. The living conditions right now aren't suited for a child (it wasn't suited for a teenager and two robots to be honest in the first place, but they made do.)

School, therapy, clothes, food-

Ryoken grabbed his shoulder gently and was muttering something to him, he focused on the voice and let it calm him.

"-it will be fine, you won't be alone in taking care of him if it comes to that. The Kusanagi brothers would be more than happy to help, Takeru and Aoi can babysit, I'll be here-"

Ai curled in on himself Ryoken following him down as they both squatted on the floor together so Ai could get his bearings.

"Sorry."

"Don't be this is a scary situation, no one is prepared to be a parent, but at least you won't be alone-" Ryoken hesitated a bit before he continued.

"If it gets too much you all can come live with me. I have the room and well more money than I know what to do with. Maybe this time we can give Yusaku a better life if it never wears off-"

"Live with you?" The two men froze as they slowly turned to the now awake Yusaku, he didn't seem to be in distress so not a nightmare thank God.

He then looked at what was in their hands and began to panic sliding away from them waking up Roboppy.

"NO PLEASE, PLEASE DON'T MAKE DUEL AGAIN! I'LL BE GOOD I PROMISE!" Yusaku was hyperventilating looking around like a cornered animal as he backed himself under the stairs to get away from them.

Ryoken acted fast and caught him before he actually tried climbing the floating steps. Yusaku wailed in fear nearly making Ai go crazy cause he was torn between comforting the boy and crying himself.

It was too much!

"Listen, listen to me it's okay just think of three things to calm down-" Silence as Ryoken's lips thinned realizing what he just said.

The look Yusaku gave him was enough to make him worry if Ryoken accidentally broke the young origin.

"...that's- that's what my special person does," It was a quiet whisper that made Ai tense. He wasn't sure how this was going to turn out.

Ryoken blanched looking down with a bit of fear. He defaulted to old habits with Yusaku like this, the three things that kept him going his whole life and now brought up again.

"Do you know him?! Is he okay?" Yusaku clutched onto the man's pink shirt with such desperation it actually startled Ryoken and early made him drop the boy.

"Wait! Y-you look like my friend, I was at his house… but I don't think I remember leaving. Why do you look like him are you his big brother?" Yusaku shook as he was held by Ryoken clearly wanting to bolt out of his arms. To run away until he felt safe. Things had gotten to confusing and was clearly overwhelming the child.

"...Yes, I'm his big brother, you went through something terrible and can't remember your life beforehand. But I was called here to help," Ryoken crooned gently to the boy bouncing him in arms to calm him, a little lie was easier to explain than the truth.

"I don't know you! I don't," Came the sobs from the small boy, "I don't know where I am or how I got here, but I can't remember where my home is or who my family is," Yusaku's sobbed scared in Ryoken arms the boys fear finally consuming him. The stress of today finally too much for the young boys already fragile state to handle.

They try to approach but he only got more agitated. Ai was getting frustrated he didn't know what to do! Every move he made was the wrong one when all he wanted was-

"WHO EVEN ARE YOU!?"

Ai's face lit up as he got an idea.

"We're your family."Both Roboppy and Ryoken faces whipped towards Ai making him a little self conscious but he pressed on. "We met recently, we're not a conventional family I know, but I had lost mine own that I know all my life recently. You and Roboppy are all I have left."

Ai was shaking, he was shaking so hard. He may be afraid of having to raise Yusaku, but he's more afraid of Yusaku never wanting anything to do with them again. To not be apart of his life still.

"It's fine you don't remember us, we can make new memories! But we're your family, we care about you. Seeing you hurt like this, it isn't fair because you don't deserve what happened to you." He gently knealed before the boy holding his hand out patient and understanding.

"It will take some work, but we will be with you every step of the way Yusaku. We won't ever leave you alone ever again."

Yusaku sobbed before looking at the hands held out to him. He placed his own little in them after a bit and cried when Ai gently closed them.

This time he was crying tears of relief.


End file.
